Eon of Aurora
by Ryntaia
Summary: Separated from their old ward and back to their old shenanigans, the Hooligans end up dragged into one last dance with the Frost family when Stella Frost digs up secrets about her missing parents. Only this time it won't just be Nack, Bean, and Bark who she has roped into the conspiracy deep within the Aurora Ice Fields...and deep underneath it. Last of the Hooligan Havoc series.
1. Formulation Separation

Notes

Well, kids, we've come full circle and reached the final book of the Hooligan Havoc triad! I always intended it to be a set of three but I was never particularly sure if I was going to get around to writing the final one. After Archie was cancelled and the Hooligans were basically banned from use (because no fun allowed), I admit I wasn't in the mood to even really think about Hooligan Havoc. But hell, time heals all wounds, and here we are. And its good to see you all again.

Naturally, a warning to first time readers: This is the last installment in a series of three. And unlike the first sequel, I can guarantee this story will make absolutely no sense without reading the first two stories. The first one is Pink Diamond and the second one is The Mina Mongoose Affair. A lot of information and stories built up in those volumes are going to be the main focal point of the story, including characters that were introduced previously, and a family of original characters who are the foundation of the entire mystery.

Either way, enjoy this story-its been a long time coming Maybe too long, even.

* * *

Chapter One

Formulation Separation

Flakes pelted the front of the Marvelous Queen as it stormed across the vast expanse of the snowy field, carefully and precisely veering around the jutting spikes of ice that rose from underneath the powdery white snowdrifts. Gloved hands revved the engine of the straining vehicle as a streak of curses uttered from underneath the driver's breath. Both of his passengers seemed to be completely unfazed by the growing storm coming down on them, but one of them was a certified lunatic and the other was a native of the northern islands.

Nack hated this weather. He would've done anything to just be inside right now, preferably with a bottle of liquor to warm up his insides and his head. But here he was instead storming across the Aurora Ice Fields. The last time he had willingly put himself in the middle of this snow covered hellhole, he had the promise of a massive payout from a glorious looking gem. It had turned out to be a complete lie but it had at least been what the mercenary could call valid motivation.

Now he was just pushing past snowdrifts on his airbike to go see some kid.

 _Goddamn, what happened to my life…_

"Wonder why foxy loxy decided all the sudden that she wanted to talk to us." Bean interrupted the weasel's train of thought; Nack barely graced the smug bird with a sideways glance. "It's been what, a year now? Since she asked to go back to stay with her uncle at the manor, I mean."

"Don't be daft, ya idiot. The kid said on the phone why she wanted to talk to us." Nack growled irately; both Bean and the bear whose lap he sat in quirked a brow at the irritation that immediately passed over their leader's face. "She has a job she needs done and she wants to pay us to do it fer her."

"She didn't talk much about it."

"A'course she didn't. What'dya think this is, y'idiot? Some sort of goddamn playdate so we can just all hang out?" Nack snapped. That seemed to shut the green duck up, though Bean did crane up his neck to shoot a questioning glance at Bark. The team muscle did not take his harsh red eyes off the weasel behind the wheel of the airbike, even when clumps of snow hit him in the snout. Nack was not about to give him the vindication of responding to the accusation in his eyes.

He hadn't even been sure if he wanted his team to come along on this job, but SHE had insisted.

That stupid kid.

Stella Frost.

He grit his teeth.

Bean was right. It had been almost a year now, maybe even more. The whole incident seemed like a blur in retrospect—everything seemed to be returning to normal, with the Hooligans carting the young arctic fox around the world on her uncle's paystub. The popstar had been returned to her dumb world of glamour and Sonic had taken his pet fox and left them alone. Even Stella's consistent pain in the ass of an aunt had been completely removed from the picture. Last he heard, the woman had gone straight back to prison along with nearly all of her goons and criminal connections. The chapter of Frost family conflict had ended and all they had to do now was mercenary work and enjoying their lives.

Or it had seemed so, anyways.

A few weeks after all of the loose ends with the Mina Mongoose hysteria had been tied up, the fox ward of the Hooligans had begun to act strangely. She was quieter. She was not as interested in their missions, was always sitting around in the corner of the hotel on the laptop or with her head buried in a notebook. The worst of it had been that whatever it was that was bothering her, Stella had refused to talk to any of the Hooligans about it. Nack would never admit it but at some point the little girl had started to actually worry him; the newfound attitude was completely antithetical to what the mercenaries knew her as.

And then it had happened. She had just shook him awake one morning in one of the dingier hotel rooms they all stayed in, and told him that she wanted to go back and live at the manor with her Uncle Erik.

Nack knew he couldn't be pissed about it. Stella was a child, only nine years old, and she belonged with her family. But it wasn't like Erik Fairfield had any more blood relations to the arctic fox than the Hooligans did. He was only the girl's uncle by marriage to her bitch of an aunt. Kids needed stability, though—they needed homes. So he had driven her back to the manor and dumped her there in complete silence. He supposed he hadn't been so subtle about how much it irritated him even though he knew it was stupid to be angry.

It was just a kid. Wasn't even his own kid. Wasn't even his own PROBLEM. Hell, he reasoned, this way he got out of the situation having been paid a huge amount of money by Fairfield without ever having to deliver on what he promised to deliver. Whenever the weasel thought of it that way, though, it just made his blood boil more—he had failed to complete the job that the annoying kid had approached him with. He had never found out what happened to her parents.

Nack's anger had boiled away into a plummeting feeling at the pit of his stomach whenever this thought came to mind. He had failed to figure out the mystery behind the disappearance of Genevieve and Paul Frost. Stella had left.

 _The kid thought that we couldn't do it._

His grip tightened on the handles of the Marvelous Queen. She had thought they couldn't do it, and then she had disappeared for a year only to call them back and ask them back to the manor. The girl had provided no explanation of why or what was going on. Just that she needed them at the manor. As if the brat had any right to order them around, to tell them to come cross country at the drop of a hat just because she needed them to do some undefined task for her!

…Of course, he had come anyways, and he rather didn't want to think about why.

 _Kids. They're useless and annoying, always causing trouble._

"Nack? Geez, Tooth, are you paying any attention at all?"

The weasel jerked out of his thoughts to stare blankly at Bean. The duck sat with his arms crossed over the side of the sidecar, wind and snow blowing his feathers around haphazardly. One gloved thumb jerked forward. With barely any time to react, Nack ended up defaulting to reflexes as he hurriedly shifted the bike sideways to screech to a halt. Bean was knocked backward against the silent polar bear behind him; Bark himself grasped tightly at the metal siding of the bike as it nearly spun out. The air blasting up from the Marvelous Queen blew ice and snow all around them in a circle, splattering all over the lemming maid standing in front of them.

Her brown eyes were wide in shock and her entire body shook like an earthquake had struck only the small space she occupied. Shivering paws gripped at each other desperately as a shriek stuck in his open mouth, staring in fear at the bumper of the airbike mere centimeters from her stomach. Nack flipped his hat up to eye the maid standing seemingly in the middle of nowhere, near ready to collapse in fear.

"….Yer Emma, right? Emma Lemming? You work at the Frost Manor." Nack said bluntly. He didn't really know what else to say; the only reason a Frost Manor maid would be out in the cold of the icefields was if her employers had sent her. And the only reason they could've sent her was to meet up with the guests they were expecting. Still, it was pretty pathetic to watch her cowering behind the folds of her apron.

"Yu….Yes, Mister Sniper. Mister Dynamite. Mister Bear." The lemming nodded meekly at the pair behind Nack; Bean jauntily tipped an imaginary cap at her. It didn't seem to amuse the maid. If anything it made her shuffle back a few more steps. The maids from the manor had always been a skittish lot. "I…I was sent here to greet you. The mistress and the lord felt that with the snowstorm getting so bad…well, that it might be for the best for someone to p-pick, uh, pick you up. Lady Stella said t-that she helped you find the manor the last few times."

"Is that so." Nack snorted. Even the slight sound seemed to terrify the lemming; he had a feeling that if it wouldn't cost her a job, Emma Lemming would have run to the next country over by now. Not the best guide to send. She was bound to be more of an annoyance than an asset but Stella would probably be unhappy if he didn't bring her back with him. Nack wanted to think that wouldn't bother him in the slightest but even the weasel knew he'd just be bullshitting himself at that point. "Get in. We're only about a mile or two from the Manor."

"The storm is getting worse." Bean observed as the lemming climbed into the sidecar shakily. She pointedly shifted as far away as she could away from the duck and the polar bear. It didn't save her from the pointed and almost curious look latched onto her by both of the other occupants—though Bean's gaze could be better called maniacal. Nack couldn't resist revving the Marvelous Queen; it shook underneath them all and elicited a shriek from Emma.

"Don't worry about it." The weasel chuckled. The weak glare he received from the maid was well worth it. "If we move now, we'll be there before the storm really picks up. Let's go."

"That's not the right way." Emma interrupted as he shifted the bike eastward. Nack stopped to state blankly at her. Her arm shot out in the opposite direction. It shook weakly, though the weasel wasn't sure if it was from the cold or just from plain fear. Maybe, he thought absentmindedly, it was both. "That way. R-remember?"

Nack groaned and pushed his weight to pull the bike around.

"Yeah. I remember."

Nack was not prepared for what greeted him at the mansion.

In the back of his skull he could hear familiar shouts, a high pitched voice from a little girl and hands yanking at his belt to make him stop. It turned to mush in the back of his head as the barrel of his gun rested firmly between the cobalt fur above the temples of green eyes glaring determinedly back into the weasel's blue ones. Behind him, Bean was hurriedly lighting up a bomb as Bark had grabbed a pair of mutated yellow tails to hold their owner far above the ground. Small fists batted weakly at his thick chest.

"Nack, PLEASE! Stop! Stop it RIGHT NOW!" Stella's shriek finally penetrated the weasel's mind and he snapped his head down to stare at the girl. The first thing he registered was that she had grown a few centimeters—a child once at his waist was now looking up at him with pleading ice blue eyes from chest level. Long black hair had grown out to fall around her hips, covered in a newer burgundy jacket. Some odd instinct tugged at the man deep within him and he lowered the gun jerkily to his side. It didn't make him any less pissed when Sonic shot him a shit-eating grin, though.

"Now see? We can all get along."

"Eat me, hedgehog." Nack spat. "Is this some kinda joke, kid? Or is it a setup? What, you go away from us for a year and decide to buddy up to these tools and turn us in? That it?"

"W-What?! Nack, no, of course not!" Stella protested, muzzle puffing up in protest. "I would never do that! They're only here under the rule that they DON'T try to put any of you guys in jail!"

"Unfortunately, she's telling the truth. We're here on…let's call it commission for the sake of the greater good." Sonic said dramatically as he threw an arm around Nack's shoulders—it only earned him a glare and a growl in return. "Hey, look on the bright side, buddy! I absolutely can make free time in my schedule to arrest you some other time. Now could you tell your goon to put Tails down before I have to break my word and beat all of you up? I'm not keen on lyin' to kids, you know."

Nack pushed the hedgehog away from him and glanced over to Bark with a slight nod. The polar bear released the appendages in his mitten covered hands and Tails crashed in an undignified pile on the floor. His best friend was at his side immediately to help him up, casting a warning look at the massive creature above him. Bark didn't even as much as flinch at the implied threat, watching the two carefully.

"Maybe," Stella began, stepping between the two opposing parties. "I should explain what's going on before you all rip each other apart."

Nack's only reply was the sound of his gun cocking.


	2. Negotiations

Chapter Two

Negotiations

 _Steam rose from a seemingly forgotten china teacup resting on the long windowsill that looked down across the pure snow that stretched as far as the eye could see. Even as the small fox girl stared out, kneeled by the arched frame of the massive window, more of the serene flakes drifted down to build the snowdrifts up further. Behind Stella stood her uncle, red fur meticulously groomed and hand trained over his paler muzzle. Erik Fairfield had been there for going on an hour and he still didn't know what to say to his niece._

 _He craned his neck to look under her arms; folded under her smaller hands was a manila folder stuffed with papers. The mere sight made him wish he had just kept his mouth shut. She wouldn't have those papers and so much fresh bad news if it wasn't for him opening his fat mouth. But the girl had ASKED about Dr. Piniford, and he couldn't just LIE about what had happened._

 _Erik Fairfield simply hadn't known how important it was._

 _"Darling." He finally began, crouching down beside her. His niece refused to make eye contact. "I know that all this…all this LOSS has been rough. But I promise it's going to get better soon. You know that, right?"_

 _"…I don't know anything anymore." Stella sniffed; her uncle stiffened at the tears collecting in the child's eyes. With a deep breath he wrapped an arm around her shoulder and drew her into his chest; she buried her nose in his waistcoat with one hand loosely hanging onto his prim jacket. "And I don't know what…WHY he wanted me to have all this stuff, either! Mom and dad's notes…I don't get any of this stuff! It's all history stuff and references I don't get! What's a 'Lind'? I don't know! Ugh!"_

 _With a dramatic push, Stella picked up the manila folder on the windowsill and threw it down on the ground. The papers within scattered across the floor. Erik reached down to pick one sheet up as he pulled the now sobbing child into his chest. He had to admit he didn't know why Dr. Piniford's will had been prepared to hand a pile of notes over to Stella Frost, nor why he had not been allowed to look at them before he transferred them to the girl. Once the files had been opened, though, he immediately recognized why—he immediately recognized the elegant scrawl of Genevieve Frost and the hasty penmanship of Paul Frost._

 _He knew why, yes. But he couldn't figure anything else out anymore more than his niece could. The letters and documents all were littered with complicated jargon and references to things that neither of them had never heard of before. Stella was right about one thing, for certain: the mysterious word 'Lind' came out constantly in nearly every paper._

 _But he was no historian, nor was he any scientist._

 _Erik Fairfield had no answers._

 _"I thought if I came back I'd be closer ta' solvin' what happened!" Stella's voice was barely intelligible against his uncle's jacket. He hushed her to no avail as her sobs turned into frantic hiccups. "I thought…if I was here, I would be close 'nough to the questions to find some answers! B-but ever since I got back, the question are just gettin' worse and worse and worse! 'N there's NO ONE here who knows any of th' answers! Everyone who does keeps…keeps…they keep…"_

 _She swallowed a watery sob._

 _"…Are people gettin' hurt 'cause of what I'm doin', Uncle Erik?"_

 _He stared, stunned, down at the little girl holding his waist. He eyes spoke of an earnest belief in her supposed guilt, so much so that the man just sat there flooding with shock for a couple of minutes. Then he rested a gentle hand atop Stella's messy mop of uncombed black hair, threading his fingers down the back of the ponytail to comfort the small girl. Her lip quivered._

 _"Dr. Piniford did not die because of you, Stella. He died because of…" Erik himself faltered for a moment then shook his head. He couldn't be so weak in front of a child so lost. Even if it meant pouring salt on his own old wounds. "…he died because of your aunt, Stella. Vanessa sent people after you who had no morals to speak of and they only did what such nasty folks are prone to doing. Whether she told them to kill the doctor or not…it doesn't matter. She knew who she was hiring when she placed Svetlana Vasin and Jeb the Tusk under her employ. And you simply cannot blame the results of her brutal choices on yourself."_

 _Behind her head, he held up one of the papers that had fallen from the manila folder. He recognized his sister-in-law's handwriting even if he didn't understand anything the paper was talking about._

 _Erik's mind flitted back to the events of the past year. Stella going missing out of nowhere, his wife being exposed for the fraud she was, the actions of the cult that dogged the Frost family history, the kidnapping of a young pop star, the time that his niece had spent with the pack of borderline criminals that somehow managed to take better care of Stella than he ever could. So much had happened—the man had to stop and wonder if what was written on the papers around them even had relevance anymore. Even if they did, what could he do? He was only one man and if he were to be honest with himself, he was a woefully useless one._

 _Erik Fairfield had only stepped into all of this by lieu of marrying into the Frost family. He was born in a well off enough family and went to a decent enough school, managing to come out of all of it with virtually no viable skillsets. All he could boast was a rather high tolerance to alcohol that had led to occasional drinking problems, and as his ex-wife had put it, a 'very pretty face'. The man had not been born to give direction or lead anyone and he had been completely comfortable with that._

 _Still…there had to be an answer. He had THINK. There had to be something in that had happened in the past year that could help them, since they clearly were getting nowhere on their own. The red fox's vision blurred a bit, the paper in his out going out of focus as he zeroed in on a glossy print that had been lying conspicuously underneath the manila folder. The photographed smile waved obliviously back to him, pink ink dried atop the bottom of the print._

 _The popstar, Mina Mongoose. Behind her was the a spiny blue head turned away from the camera to talk to what Erik recognized as the Acorn family princess. Behind them was a smaller mutant fox, looking almost curiously behind them at the older girl and the unseen photographer. That poor girl that had been tied to Stella and the Hooligans only a few months ago. That poor girl who seemed to have an intimate friendship with the Freedom Fighters, the royal family, and the hedgehog that was so often called the hero of the world._

 _One hand scooped underneath Stella's rear, pulling her up into her uncle's neck as he stood to walk over to the windowsill and sit beside the glossy print. With gloved hands he carefully lifted it. From the crook of his neck, his niece shifted a bit to look at the image that she was being presented with. Her legs shifted across to sit in her uncle's lap, taking the publicity picture out of his hands to look at it nervously._

 _"There's nothing wrong with asking for help from the those who would give their hand for a good cause, Stella." Erik said, petting a hand down her hair. "Even if those you care for don't happen to like such individuals too much."_

 _Stella was silent for a moment._

 _Then she nodded._

* * *

A burst of smoke emerged from Nack's mouth, hand resting firmly on his forehead with a cigarette planted firmly between his fingers. It let off a small trail that disappeared into the air. Frankly he would've preferred something a little stronger than the cheapass cancer sticks he had picked up a few weeks back at a shop and rob, but it filled in the gap. At least until he could swap it out for a nice, expensive, high quality, stolen cigar. Or some hard liquor.

Nothing frustrated him more than anger that he felt bad for feeling.

The kid's story made sense. She had needed help. She had needed _smarts._ So she had gone through the pain in the ass popstar to get in contact with everyone's favorite showoff hedgehog, and more importantly, to his intellectual partner. Nack would never admit it to either of their faces but as much as his enemies pissed him off, he knew damn well that the pint-sized mutant that Sonic towed around wasn't with him without reason. The hero brat was smart. His arsenal of handmade gizmos was more than enough to account for that. And with their ties to the royal family, Sonic and Tails could easily dig into whatever long dead secrets that were hidden from the sight of the layman.

That was the type of knowledge that a run of the mill mercenary couldn't possibly hope to attain, no matter how high the pricetag was.

He tapped a few ashes off the glowing tip of his cigarette. It still pissed him off a personal level to be sitting across from Sonic the Hedgehog. In retrospect he wasn't even sure why he needed to be here. Tallying the room it seemed like Stella had what she needed to do whatever she was planning. It took all of his self control to not bite his cigarette in half at the thought that Sonic was actually upstaging him here.

The weasel wanted desperately to point this out, to point out EVERYTHING wrong with the fact that he and his men were sitting in a room with their hated enemy. Luckily, the only creature in the universe to have less self control than Nack the Weasel was sitting on the arm of the polar bear who hovered above the Hooligan's leader.

" So if ya called Poppy Moppy, and she got ya in contact with blue boy and the mutant wonder, why'd you ask us to come here?" Bean's tone was childishly delighted, as if he was completely blind to the situation at hand. Knowing the birdbrain, Nack realized, he probably was. "Ain't you just gonna take super duper sonic racing to do your assignment?"

"Super duper sonic racing…?" Stella looked confused, but Sonic let out a loud snort. The hedgehog sat on the couch furthest away from the Hooligan's, arms thrown behind the dark wooden frame. Tails sat aside him, hands fiddling with each other in his lap and nervous written plain as day across his face. Nack doubted either of them were entirely comfortable with the situation either—both sides had fled to separate corners as soon as they were give a chance, Stella sitting on the longer couch between Nack's chair and the heroes' loveseat. Her uncle stood quietly behind her.

"I know its gonna break your hearts but I actually can't stay. I'm only here to check in on Tails." The silent ' _and to make sure meeting up with you criminals doesn't go south ASAP'_ floated over the conversation like a dull, unspoken roar. "I have some stuff I gotta catch up with regarding the whole thing with, y'know, cracking some eggs. Making some omelettes. Hero stuff, y'know."

"You think you're funny but you're not." Nack replied flatly.

"Nah, I'm hilarious."

"No."

"Be that as it may…" Tails cleared his throat, one hand gripping Sonic's arm warningly. The hedgehog scoffed but sat back and looked away from the conversation. "I'll be staying here. I have a lot of stuff here that only I'm going to be able to operate."

The boy shot a glance at his best friend; Sonic gave him an expectant look. Tails' cheeks immediately puffed up and his head whipped back to look defiantly at the mercenaries sitting across from him. "A-and…and if you don't like it, t-that's just tough luck, buddy!"

It took all of Nack's willpower to not join in with Sonic's cackling. And even then, he couldn't resist the wry grin that split his face. Absently, in the back of his mind, he wondered if he had always been this easy on kids or if he had the little rich princess to blame for this newfound chink in his armor. Really it wasn't worth dwelling on—if Sonic was leaving, then that left him with an important place. And as much as the brat had grown on him, Nack figured she knew damn well how the weasel and his boys worked.

"Regarding your commission fee for the job…"

Music to his ears.

"I know I've promised y'guys a lot of fake stuff in order to trick you before. So this time, I'm gonna offer you somethin' really real." Stella began, fixing her gaze with the Hooligan leader's. Nack stared back defiantly; he had to admit he cared about this kid by this point, but Stella had the traits of a scam artist. She wasn't cut out of exactly the same cloth as the Hooligans but would definitely dip into their way of dealing with things if the situation called for it.

Thankfully, as a check was passed over to him by Erik Fairfield, the sharpshooter realized he had nothing to worry about. A grin spread across his face as he snapped the paper sharply, casting an eye over at the young girl. Unsurprisingly, the fox girl had fixed him with a smug and knowing grin. Like he cared—it wasn't some big secret that he or any of the Hooligans liked their money, and they liked it in large sums. Only Bean looked slightly disappointed at the lack of a precious, shiny gemstone.

"Alright, kiddo. You have my attention. What's this new job?"


	3. We're In the Money

Chapter Three

We're In The Money

 _"I'm glad that you called me, really, I am, but I'm starting to wonder if this is actually going to work out." The purple haired celebutante huffed as she dropped a stack of books in front of the two foxes. Unsurprisingly her protest went ignored. Tails reached out and carefully snagged the tome from the top of the pile to pop open, finger pressed against the old parchment and nose nearly touching the pages. The sight of Tails with his nose literally stuck in a book was pretty comical to Mina, but she held back her chuckles and turned to crouch next to Stella._

 _The strange girl who had been part of one of the odder segments of her life had called Mina up only a month prior. She wasn't sure how the little girl had gotten her private line—she wasn't sure she wanted to know, really. All she knew was that Stella was not calling her fawn over songs or preen over stage costumes. She had contacted Mina for the sole reason that she was in great need of the popstar's help._

 _Many things had crossed the mongoose's mind at that point in time. That the girl was lost, that she was trapped, that she was injured, that one of her criminal friends were lost or trapped or injured…in recollection it had all seemed like a bit of an overreaction and thankfully she had been wrong. No, instead Stella had contacted with a desperate plea: to let her speak with the hedgehog and fox that had shown up to save Mina when she was kidnapped._

 _She couldn't much say no. Not with the desperation in Stella's voice._

 _Nonetheless she had been surprised when she showed up to meet with Stella, with the man behind her being the fox's strange uncle that Mina had only met through video messaging during her kidnapping. Not a single member of the Hooligans were to be seen—even as her green eyes traced the restaurant Stella had asked to meet her at, she ended up drawing a blank. It had been even more shocking when minutes later Stella explained she was taking a break from them._

 _It didn't feel right, somehow. But Mina didn't really think it was her place to question it, either. She brought Sonic and Tails to meet with Stella and they had discussed the details of the problem at hand. Files, she said, she had found a whole lot of strange files and information. Things no one in her family could decipher. Things she believed may only be possible to understand with a more worldly and calculating brain. She needed the Freedom Fighters._

 _Stella Frost needed the help of Sonic and Tails._

 _She had been quick to stipulate, of course, that she would be bringing the Hooligans back on board for the job as soon as possible. That, in fact, they could be called back at any time while the pair of heroes were helping her. The faces that Sonic and Tails had made had been priceless, so much so that Mina had to stop and remind herself that she should probably be making the same face. All this meant was that if she stuck around she would have to deal with the explosive bird, the silent bruiser, and the ill tempered weasel full of sass and lacking any class._

 _Yet here she was, still at the manor, still carting books from the deliveries of valuable books send over to be explicitly watched over by herself and Tails._

 _And here she had thought books were useful. A full month had passed with no new information gleaned from the various ancient texts. It was starting to get so bad that Tails had ended up pulling out a few language books to cross-reference so he could skim the volumes that were so far gone that they weren't even in a modern language. And all any of them had found was a passing reference to the word that seemed to dog all of Genevieve and Paul's research notes._

 _Lind. She'd never heard it before. Tails had explained it was an older, out of use last name that meant something to do with a fruit tree. Yet the 'Lind' referred to in the notes didn't seem to be surname of any sort—having checked all the notes over, the tech wizard confirmed that the word had been consistently referred to as if it were a living entity, and had been referred to multiple times in the plural._

 _"This is the last shipment of books that they'll send us, isn't it?" Mina attempted to spark a conversation again; Tails only grunted in response, burying his face deeper in the book he had picked up. At his side sat a small notebook jotted full of notes on a bevy of dead languages. "According to the Acorn royal family, there isn't anything else left in the library that could possibly warrant being dragged out here. Honestly we're lucky they're letting us do this as all."_

 _"Sonic talked to them." Was the only response Tails had for her._

 _"Well gosh, I'd imagine he did. Sonic's a convincing sort. And he's done enough good deeds to get a favor here and there. That's just the kind of guy he is." Mina smiled, a tinge of nostalgia in her voice as she stretched out her back. Stella fixed her with a confused look—no doubt unsure of the source of her wistful tone. The mongoose wasn't keen on explaining it. "Still, what're we going to do? If there's nothing in this pile then we—"_

 _"Stella." Tails interrupted Mina's awkward ramblings, finally pulling his face away from the thick book to point in the direction of the staircase. "I kept a book from the last haul, its called 'Portrait of a Planet: the Rubble of Mobius'. Do me a favor and go grab it. I gotta check this and see if it actually means anything useful."_

 _Stella jumped to her feet, turning tail to dash up the stairs. Mina quickly followed suit, giving the yellow fox a sideways glance; it wouldn't do much good to stay down here with him. She tended to become talkative in the absence of conversation and it seemed obvious that Tails needed a bit of silence to work. But before she could even begin to ascend the stairs, Stella came sliding down the banister at top speed to topple into the pile of books in front of the other fox. In her hands she held up a book so thick it could barely fit in her young hands; Tails plucked it from her fingers and let it fall open to a middle section full of glossy photos marked by a satin sash._

 _His fingers traced the photo on the left that took up the entire page—what looked to be the foundation of a building, buried halfway in snow. Stella nosed further in to get a closer look while Mina tried to resist her curiosity. Soon enough it bettered her and she went to crouch down by the pair of children. Tails was comparing his notes with what looked to be the only standing wall in the picture._

 _"It's here." He said finally. "The same text."_

 _"What?" Both girls immediately asked, eagerness apparent in both their faces. The entire group had been working for just a little too long._

 _Tails held up the heavy tome he had been so invested in; to both their surprise, it seemed to be a rather sizeable book of fantasy written in a long dead language. It seemed to match the lettering on the side of the ruins—with a start, Mina noted that those two examples were the only books she had seen such text in. She shook her head out; that couldn't be possible. She had just looked at too many weird letters from old languages that no one spoke anymore._

 _"This is the only place I've ever seen this text before."_

 _Well so much for that, then._

 _"I'm not even really sure what language this book is in," Tails observed carefully. "But we're not the first people to look at it, not even recently. There are notes written all over it. I'm seeing at least five different handwriting styles here but only one of them is using modern slang and modern language structure. Someone's had this book in the last…oh, I'd say at least fifty or so years. Maybe less."_

 _"How's that even possible?" Mina gaped. "I thought the Acorn library was private to the royal family. Give or take a few exceptions like us, I guess."_

 _"Well, with the hostile takeover that Robotnik staged way back when…" Tails shook his head. "…a lot of the Acorn family belongings are just now being recovered. A lot of them were just plain destroyed. Others were sold off to collectors, or snuck out in covert missions, and made their way around the world and back again. I'd say it's a dang miracle that we're even holding this book right now."_

 _"So what did they write?" Stella demanded, grabbed one side of the novel to push next to the other fox. Her eyes widened in shock, hand on the cover shaking lightly at the clear cursive penned down. "This…this is my…"_

 _"Yeah…I was gonna try and say, but, well…" Tails said nervously, scooting away from the other fox. Mina craned her neck to look between the two. She couldn't understand what was putting Stella so on edge. "It…it looks like it matches the handwriting of Genevieve Frost from the notes that Dr. Piniford gave you. There's handwriting in other places that's pretty similar to the notes from your dad, too. Both of them…it looks like this book fell into their care at some point."_

 _"I…I…what does it say?" Stella's entire body was trembling now; the other two watched her with concern in their eyes._

 _"Are you sure? Maybe we should wait—"_

 _"I want to know now!"_

 _"O-okay. She underlined this…." Tail's finger glided across the page as he spoke. "…and this. Her notes translate it as 'a land within a land for those who are landless' and 'the land cared for by that which has always been landless'. Both versions of this seem to match up the word 'land' with 'lind', like here. Unt lind wasna unt lind—a land within a land."_

 _"B…but what does that mean?" Stella asked, concern seeping from her every word. Tailed pulled the geology book back into his lap, placing the tome of fantasy stories in Stella's arms. Displayed in front of them was a ruin that barely even continued a ruin, clattered into disaster under centuries of wear and tear from the merciless winter snow. The book itself only clarified it as an unknown ruin from deep within the Aurora Ice Fields._

 _"Do you know where this is?"_

 _"I…" She paused, staring at it. "….I think so? I think, when I was really little, I went here with my mom when it wasn't snowing. I think I remember that we weren't supposed to be there, though, and that's why we never went back."_

 _"Why?" Mina finally asked. "Is it sacred?"_

 _"No." Stella said flatly. "It's dangerous. It's almost right in front of a cave that a bunch of criminals hang around."_

 _"That's no good. Because I'm pretty sure wherever this place is, that's where we need to be." Tails flipped through a few of the fantasy book's pages again, observing Genevieve's notes. "I need more time to look at this and figure the language out but, if I had to say right now? That one standing wall wasn't a wall at all. It was a sign, and its pointing to a place."_

 _"A place? What place could it possibly be pointing?"_

 _"I'm not sure." Tails hesitated, checking Genevieve's notes again. "Maybe…a land within a land for the landless?"_

* * *

"So ya found a clue in some dingy ass book…and ya built this monstrosity."

Nack scoffed, almost to himself, as they all stood in the darkened compound underneath the Frost Manor. He hadn't even known this place existed—would have to take it into account later on, for hideout purposes. It was a huge granite garage, complete with flickering lights and what appeared to be some kind of getaway car in the corner equipped with heavy snow tires and chains. But it was simple and mundane compared to the hunk of metal towering in front of them.

Nearly pushing twelve feet with six thick wheels mounted on a continuous track, the homemade vehicle was covered in tubes welded to the thick bluish-green uranium body. Each wheel had the word Sonic Quake etched into round side facing its audience. The back spiraled into what looked like a glowing, bright blue core attached to the car by thick metal and a rubber pump so thick it felt like stone to the touch. Atop it all was a ladder leading to a sturdy fiberglass; within the front of the shell was what looked to be a selection of extremely complex driving tools and a comfortable seat from which to use them. Behind that seat were six plush airliner seats.

This of course meant nothing in comparison to the fifteen-foot long drill firmly attached to the nose of the homemade tank.

"Are ya goin' to war, short stuff?" Nack questioned, looking down at Stella. She only giggled. "'Cause I'm not gonna lie, this seems a little bit like overkill. Just sayin'. Don't take my word for it."

"We won't. It took months to build this machine." Tails sniffed delicately, almost as if offended. Nack wasn't surprised. The massive drill had no doubt been built by the technological child genius that hovered over their heads. "And we aren't going to war. We're going down."

"Down?"  
"Way down." Tails clarified, landing atop the massive drill delicately. "It took almost three months to translate everything from the sections outlined by Mrs. Frost, but it all pointed to a cave north of here by some old ruins. Based on what her parents wrote in the book, well…"

"They were planning on going through the cave." Stella stepped forward, holding a notebook out. "And the date they had planned to go through the cave was the day they disappeared."

"Okay. So why do we need the wartank here? Are you gonna mow the damn mountain down or somethin'?" Nack scratched his head in confusion as his teammates pushed past to examine the vehicle. Bark pushed against the hard metal shell, looking surprised when it wouldn't even budge. Bean, meanwhile, scurried up the side to sit at the top. The bird whistled as he pressed his beak against the glass, looking in on the advanced tech.

"It's a lot fancier than your bike, that's for sure."

"Shut up, Bean." Nack snapped. He turned down to the little fox girl, notebook in hand and eyes wide with anticipation. "Kid….er, Stella…your aunt, and the brake lines…this seems like a lot to do for a maybe, are ya gettin' me here? Are you sure that this is gonna, y'know…not be a dead ass end?"

"Hey, I wrote you a check. You can't back out on me now." Stella's blue eyes steeled, lip jutting out as she stepped back from the weasel. "Besides, I've been getting information in from one of the criminal types that hang around the cave. She told me that there's a section in the far back that was blocked off by some sort of avalanche a few years back. But even before then the people who own the cave wouldn't let them go back there. Said it was too dangerous even for dangerous types. Also that the owner would shoot 'em if they tried to go back there."

"We'll need the Sonic Quake to get through the avalanche, and maybe more on the way through." Tails patted the drill lovingly; Nack's nose scrunched up at the name. Couldn't the kid name it after ANYTHING else? Of course he couldn't, the weasel thought inwardly, and he was a fool to think otherwise. "Then we'll see what's down there. It's only a preliminary thing, really, to see if there's any clues down there about the targets."

"Geez, how big of a check did she write to YOU?" Bean popped up by the mechanic, head tilted quizzically to the side. Tails flushed in irritation. The back of his foot thumped impatiently against the metal below them both.

"The Frost family made some, uh, sizely contributions. Donations. And, well…" Tails went silent, twiddling his fingers. Nack dipped his neck down to take in the embarrassment on the young genius' face; it didn't take long to process what was going on. A gnarly sneer broke across his muzzle as he stepped forward to lean against the Sonic Quake, lighting a cigarette behind a cupped hand. A long trail of smoke blew up into Tails' face.

"You and yer people wouldn't happen to be a bit…oh, I dunno… _embarrassed_ about the incident last year with yer precious little popstar, would'ya?" The radiating red glow from the hero boy's face was all the answer Nack needed, not that it was enough to stop him. "That's why yer helpin', ain't it? To make up for screwing the pooch so bad that a bunch of yer enemies ended up havin' to do yer job for you?"

"You STARTED the problem in the first place!"

"Yeah, we started it, and we finished it. And you and yer buddy got in the way and almost got Popcorn and a helpless wittle girly killed." Nack cooed mockingly. Tails balled up his fists in frustration. "So you took a bunch of donations from the helpless wittle girly when the stupid little popstar asked you to, so everyone would be quiet and the problem would go away? I have to say, that's very underhanded. I'm almost impressed by such rowdy, delinquent behavior. And here I didn't think that the royal family and their little task force had it in them."

"I'M here as a favor to my friends, and so was Sonic!" The little pilot was really getting worked up now. Inadvertently he had lifted off the ground to hover above the unfazed weasel. Nack just blew smoke up the boy's nose. Tails fell back a bit, coughing loudly, but quickly spun back around to shove himself in the sniper's face. He was greeted only with a smug, toothy grin. "Ugh! I don't get WHY you and your crime buddies just NEED to be on this job! You just make everything more difficult for everyon—"

"Stop it. Right now."

The white fox had stepped between the arguing pair, planting herself firmly in front of Nack with her fists balled at her side. He raised a questioning brow as she stared firmly back at the other child, as if they were having some sort of wordless argument. Slowly Tails lowered from his hover above them all, feet touching down on the ground but obstinate expression not leaving his face. Looking at the back of the girl's neck, Nack could almost see her thick white fur bristling at the sight.

"Sonic can—" Tails began. With that, Stella snapped, stepping forward to thrust her finger in the boy's face.

"I told you before and I will DAMN well tell you again. I started this with Nack, Bean, and Bark! And I'm gonna END it with Nack, Bean, and Bark! Just because you and your friends made yourself look dopey doesn't mean you get to take the reigns here!" She snapped. All of the Hooligans set their eyes on her, Nack snuffing out the smoke of his cigarette on the metal alloy of the tank and Bark pulling Bean off the top to rest back on his shoulder. It was hard to miss the glowing grin on the bird's face, even bigger than usual. "We started this. We're gonna finish it. Got it?!"

"….Fine." Tails deflated a bit, but still glared up at the weasel leaning behind Stella. "But just for the record? Neither Sonic or I would've helped you out if we didn't think you were doing this for a good cause. Even if you DID present your case in a really scummy way."

"Scummy way?" Nack inquired. Stella shrugged.

"I asked Mina to get me in contact with them and brought up the mess up with the whole kidnapping thing. All I said…" She replied, tone innocent and blue eyes big as she looked over her shoulder. "…was that a few well placed donations could be good for the world, right? And I explained my situation."

"She's a terror." Tails said glumly, popping the hatch of the Sonic Quake to shuffle inside. "It's all your fault."

"Oh, stop being such a no-fun spoilsport." Stella admonished, spinning on her heels to fix the Hooligan leader with a bright smile. "The only question now is if you guys are prepare to head out tomorrow morning."

Nack flicked his cigar to the side and slapped his hand over Bean's mouth before the bird could reply. Scratching his white muzzle, he looked to the side, making as lazy an effort as he could to draw out his answer. Then, he sent a sly smirk down to the little girl, lasting only a few seconds before Bean slobbered all over his hand. With a shriek he grabbed his gun to aim it at the bird. Bark immediately pulled his smaller companion above his head and out of Nack's reach, sternly glaring down at their leader and the string of explicates pouring out his mouth.

Stella clapped happily.

"Glad you're all ready!"

Tails shot her a disbelieving look.


	4. In Lieu of Pleasantries

Chapter Four

In Lieu of Pleasantries

Nack had prepared for dealing with Sonic's little buddy boy.

He had prepared for dealing with the cold.

He had prepared for a job helmed by a child—hell, he'd done it before.

The weasel didn't like any of it, but he had prepared for it. What he hadn't prepared for was the young singer bounding down the front steps of the manor in a fluffy designer jacket and thick snow boots. He could only rest his head in his palms and suppress a loud groan as Mina Mongoose gestured the maids down to the elaborate vehicle, boxes of equipment loaded in after them as Nack sulked on top on metal roof. They paid him no mind as the systematically loaded the crates of supplies—one marked with large red sticker proclaiming itself explosive—into the Sonic Quake. Stella stood by the opening hatch with a pen, checking off each piece of luggage on a clipboard.

Yet at the sight of the mongoose, the fox girl dropped it all into the snow with an undignified plop and ran over to hug Mina around the waist tightly. The other woman's tinkling laughter filled the air, as well as nagged at Nack's quickly developing headache. He spread his fingers across his brow to glare down at the popstar as if to will her out of existence. Maybe, he thought irritably, if I try JUST hard enough I can make her just go away and not come back.

It didn't work.

Of course it didn't.

Things never worked out that easily for Nack.

With a growl, he slid off the frosted metal of the Sonic Quake until his boots hit the snow with a loud thump. One hand straddled his belt, playing across the lines of his gun holster, while the other one pulled the brim of his hat down over his eyes. Stella scurried back to her clipboard and pen quickly, burying herself in a conversation with one of the lemming maids about what she had missed. But her ice blue eyes still stayed trained in on the mongoose; Mina had crossed her arms defiantly and cocked her head to the side in inquiry.

"I think Nack's gonna start the fight, 'n Bark thinks so too. We're completely open to wager if you wanna make an opposite bet, y'know!" Bean leaned out the side of the open cargo hatch, legs kicking behind him as he laid flat on the interior surface. Behind him, Bark was stacking up crates and holstering them into place; the bear only briefly turned to snort at the prospect of getting involved with whatever was about to break out. "Aw c'mon, don't gimme that. He's been so snappy lately. He's lookin' for any excuse to start a pissing match with anyone."

"Snappy, huh?" Stella frowned. "I guess he took the send off a little hard."

"Well yeah, not that he's gonna say anythin' about it." Bean turned over onto his back to dramatically throw his arms in the air. "Good ol' fearless is content to keep his whining to himself! But he's perfectly happy taking out his crap on everyone else. What a jerk. Why do we still work for him, Bark?"

The bear said nothing in return, just turned back to roll his eyes.

"All right, it's pretty damn fun most of the time. And there's all sorts of fantastic shinies on our way in this mad, mad, MAD world!" Bean replied to Bark's empty silence, letting his arms drop to his side. His head lolled to the side, downwards off the side of the hatch, to send an uncharacteristically smug grin at the white fox. Stella wrinkled her brow. The dynamo was not easy to understand—she wondered if anyone understood him at all, and if he intended it that way.

It wasn't as if Bean was stupid. She knew that.

The arctic fox could see calculation glimmering in his eyes.

Thinking back, Stella wondered if she had ever noticed that before. She couldn't remember a time. He had seemed almost jester-like, comically out of control at all the right moments. But this could only be a given, Stella realized; no one could always perfectly misfire. She had been a year younger then, and indulgent to the ideas of adventure that were buried in the lives of the Hooligans.

 _Another year older, another year wiser?_

She stared at her clipboard absently, mind lost in thought. It seemed like a mindless jumble now, rather than the carefully laid out plans of a child to seek her lost parents. The girl tried to not think about it very much, the idea of what was on the other side of this hill she was climbing. In her mind's eye, since she had returned, she had seen a pair of people on the other side—a pair of people from the past with their arms open wide to whisk her away back into the normal life she had been made for.

That was the right direction to go. It was her goal for the past year.

So Stella had called back the men who had assisted her and been her caretakers for the past year. But, now that they stood in front of her, someone now stood behind her as she pulled herself up that cliff side to look at her parents.

 _You're fighting for a world that they can't really be a part of._

Her hands clutched tightly at the wood board.

 _But that's the world you BELONG in. With the people that CARE for you._

Bean watched her intently, the shades of conflict practically etched on her features. But he said nothing for possibly the first time in his life, hand tracing the snow on the rim of the metal. Alerted by the unusual silence, his companion turned around as if to grab Bean away from the girl but stopped when he actually saw her expression. The girl's face was nearing morose as her head sunk lower downwards. His lumbering form stilled as he exchanged a concerned glance with the green bird, who simply shrugged helplessly. Encouragement was neither of their fortes.

 _But they DO care. They wouldn't be here if they didn't—_

Her train of thought was interrupted by the sound of a pistol firing into the crisp winter air. Stella's head snapped back up in alarm.

"YOU ain't comin' with us!"

"Oh YEAH?! And who's gonna stop me, huh?! _You_?! Just try it, you crooked little lowlife!"

Bean snickered. "I win."

Bark just shook his head and returned to the depths of the cargo hold. Stella, meanwhile, flung her clipboard into Bean's hands and rushed over to the now arguing pair. Nack had his gun raised above his head as he yelled explicative at the mongoose; Mina simply shot back with a sharp, barbed tongue and a fierce glare. Though Nack had pushed himself upwards to a more intimidating height by balancing off his tail, the pop singer had only rose up on her toes to yell right back into his face. Stella stared, hands held up as if to stop them. She just wasn't quite sure how.

"Absolutely IRRESPONSIBLE—"

"Oh that's some hot shit comin' from—"

"You are just the EXACT type of person to think ONLY about himself—"

"Like I'm gonna sit here and take shit from some self-absorbed little pop star princess brat who thinks—"

"Like you're the CENTER of the world—"

"Took the words RIGHT outta my mouth, Popcorn!"

"Will you both STOP?!" Stella bellowed, stomped her foot indignantly against the snowfall. It didn't give much under her paltry and youthful strength but it got the screaming duo to look up at her. As if they hadn't even noticed her approaching. She shook her head. "Miss Mina, I brought Nack and his team into this because I know they're reliable. Nack, I brought Miss Mina into this because I know SHE'S really reliable. I need everyone here to get this DONE. So if either of you have a problem with that then, I dunno, write hate letters to each other or something because nobody has any time for this stupid shit!"

"What the hell can Little Miss Music bring to ANYTHING here?!" Nack protested despite the demand to keep his trap shut. Mina, on the other hand, just glared at him with a tight set jaw. Her fists were balled at her sides. "She's a pop idol, not a fighter! All she's gonna do is piss me off!"

"Everything pisses you off." Mina mumbled under her breath. She was rewarded with a nasty sneer from the weasel. She could tell Nack was about to make some smartass comment and start the whole cycle up again, but Stella stepped firmly in between them. Quickly she turned on her heels to face Nack.

"Mina is doin' a really important job for us, actually." Stella said softly, after moments of staring sternly at the gunslinger. His eyes, trained in on the fox, briefly flitted up to meet the eyes of the woman standing behind her. Yet the child between them suddenly hesitated. "I…I don't really know how'ta…what it's called. How people even do it. But it's helpful."

Firm arms wrapped around Stella's shoulders as Mina drew her back. The mongoose's eyes were closed, sucking in a deep breath before she opened them to face the weasel opponent she had been going against. "Working in the industry makes you put on a face sometimes, and I don't just mean makeup. You have to learn how to talk the talk. You have to learn to play a role and sometimes even be a different person. So that's what I've been doing."

"How the hell does that help?" Nack's tone was laced with more latent curiosity than it was venom. Mina chuckled. It was a knowing chuckle. The kind of know it all sound that send shivers of annoyance down Nack's spine.

"I'm pretty sure someone has to have mentioned it to you by now." Mina commented; Nack didn't like her tone but it was clear he didn't have the upper hand in this situation anymore. So he just clicked his gun back into its holster, all the while eyes never leaving the mongoose. Couldn't take his eyes on this one—celebrities could be and typically were tricky bastards. And spending time with the woman a year prior hadn't exactly warmed his opinion towards her ilk. Granted, she had done plenty of things for which he could say he mildly _appreciated_ , but that was it.

Could never trust these kind, he reminded himself.

"There's a pretty big criminal bunch living in the cave that we're on a crash course for." Stella piped up. Nack nodded slightly; he vaguely remembered something like that being mentioned before. "Mina has been meetin' with a pair of them who I guess are tight in the inner circle. From what we've been told, they all but run the place."

"Yeah, but they DON'T, so we have to be careful. They're working under someone and I don't know anything about her. Not even her name." Mina said, tone hardening. "The pair I'm dealing with is, well, they're not too bright. They could even be lying about their position in their little gang hierarchy, but they were the only ones who I knew for sure wouldn't see through my disguise. I've been meeting with them over the past four months, gaining their trust."

"Yeah, big accomplishment, you gained the trust of a bunch of dumbasses."

"Well, there's only so dumb I can win over, I guess." Mina snapped back. Nack's hand glided over his gun again but the mongoose continued on unabated. "Long story short, I've made them think I'm their friend by pretending to be an arms dealer from Downunda. They think I'm going to set them up with some real sweet deal but I convinced them I need passage down through the cave to recover some precious gemstones and gold hidden in the rock."

"You told them the cave had precious goods in it?" Nack questioned, eyebrow raised slightly. "And if they go after it and forget whatever this deal is?"

Mina laughed and shook her head. "No, they won't."

"Why? Because they LIKE you?"

"No. Because everyone in that cave is afraid of everything past a certain point. They don't go too deep in there. Apparently it's some local superstition. I couldn't honestly get much information about it." Mina frowned. "That was kind of a shame but they were pretty adamant to not talk about it. But they said if I wanted a lifestyle of danger then I was free to go in. It's gonna be kind of a small gap to get us in, only one night at a very specific time, but they can get us in."

"What's their share of the deal." Nack didn't even phrase it as a question; these men were just like his own team. Mercenaries, criminal ones, and greedy for rewards. He knew that such men only worked for reward, not for kindness given to some woman they'd met only four months prior.

"I take the precious metals and precious gemstones I presumably will find in the cave, make a fortune off them, and arm these two to the teeth. Anything that doesn't go into acquiring 'the goods' goes back to them in cash." Mina rolled her eyes. "They're a pair. They want to be rolling in weapons. Neither of them said it but I'm pretty sure they want to boot whoever is in charge off their crime throne and take her place."

"Yeah, good goddamn luck with that." Nack snorted under his breath. Mina tilted her head, eyes squinting at him inspectingly.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothin'. It don't mean nothin'." Nack replied quickly. He was looking pointedly away from them now—suddenly the snow-covered ground seemed more important than whatever grudge he had to grind with the singer. Stella looked up at her and shrugged; the little girl clearly didn't think it was important. As she explained the rest of the details to the sniper—what day, what time, names of the criminals in the cave—Mina could not help but stay with her attention fixed on the weasel. He was nodded absentmindedly, as if he wasn't even really listening to Stella.

Mina narrowed her green eyes.

Nack the Weasel knew something, for sure.


End file.
